Strategy Who Captains the club in 2021? BigBoy!

Who takes over captaincy in 2021? The answer is BigBoy!

  • JOM

    Votes: 65 30.8%
  • Tom

    Votes: 9 4.3%
  • Gunston

    Votes: 130 61.6%
  • Other - please comment

    Votes: 7 3.3%

  • Total voters
    211
  • Poll closed .
Aug 31, 2008
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All the talk that we don’t have any leadership in our younger plays ignores that O’Meara is still likely concentrating on his own game after getting his body mostly right. I’d much prefer he focus on his form this year than the extra weight of captaining the club. Same with Mitchell - he’s only one season off a horror leg injury and isn’t yet back to his peak. Both players would be better served focussing more on their own games this year than being burdened with the captaincy.

I don’t think the decision in any way casts doubt on their leadership as they’re still in the leadership group and O’Meara is VC. I think that you’ll more than likely see O’Meara/Worpel leadership team once McEvoy calls it a day.

Same goes for McEvoy who has continued to shed weight and has been wedged into an entirely new position on the field. He's been focussing on his own game too, as it's had to transition more than anyone else's in the side.
 
Has always surprised me that he wasn’t used as more of an option up forward when we struggled depth-wise there. Would love to see him used more in a Hale style of role this year.
Hale was very effective in the Hale-role in a brutally dominant side & during an era when we could play an extra behind the ball (before 6-6-6), with dynamic forwards & probs the best pressure-duo of all time (Cyril + Popeye).

It's bloody hard to isolate a CHF (play HFF wide?) but I think he could maybe play the Stewart Loewe role. Pretty hard to compare against a player from 20-odd years ago though.

Realistically, we don't use a CHF anyway - at least a guy that can ruck in the forward half & be cornerstone of a defensive wall to lock the ball in when deep forward would add something we don't currently have.
 
If it doesn't end up being Shiels then will this be the first Hawthorn captain to not have started their career at Hawthorn?
No it won't. Plenty have including our first.
 

burger09

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Sep 30, 2015
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Can you imagine David Hale as captain during the 3 peat era?

Me either.

Just another example of where we're at.


PS. I'm a big McAvoy fan but his best is years behind him and the cliff is fast approaching. Much like our last 2 skippers.
 
Can you imagine David Hale as captain during the 3 peat era?

Me either.

Just another example of where we're at.


PS. I'm a big McAvoy fan but his best is years behind him and the cliff is fast approaching. Much like our last 2 skippers.

Really, really daft comparison.
 
Aug 11, 2013
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Whatever method they used failed conclusively in the choice of our last two captains, and the latest captain's circumstance follows a similar enough pattern that the outcome is more likely to be similar than dissimilar.



I wouldn't trust their data after they selected Roughead then Stratton. Their data also indicated JOM & Wingard were worth trading the kitchen sink for.

Frankly I'm not inclined to trust a lot of what the club's been doing the past few years.

So which data would you trust? Your own data?
Please enlighten us as to how the captain of HFC is selected now.
I would have thought that the players and those within the team trust that BB will be best-suited as 2021 captain, and ably supported by his leadership group.
 

wheelie_hawk

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Other than maybe Graham Arthur. Has there been any Hawthorn captain who has not been a temporary fix?

The value of Vanders leadership has grown with hindsight.
Did he protect Sam and Luke from the pressures of being captain and if so did it allow them the extra time to mature and become better captains.

Hopefully when Gunston and JOM become premiership captains. The value of Stratts and Roughies leadership also grows like Vanders.

Added to that if the captaincy is given to a player to soon it can really stunt them. I see Worpel as captain material in the future, but jack trengrove is a cautionary tale. Big boy is a bit left field but so was vanders back when so we'll see.

Anyone know has Shaun Burgoyne ever been in the leadership group? Just curious.
 

PhatHQ

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Sep 26, 2015
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I would argue that BB has been the spiritual leader of this group before Roughy retired.

He leads the team with his actions every week as a true warrior and when he speaks I would assume that everyone would stop to listen.
He is not a groomed speaker in front of the camera like a few of the boys in the leadership groups over the years. He isn’t the goofball or larrikin as others have been over the last few seasons in the leadership group.

There is no doubt in my mind that the appointment is two years late but that doesn’t mean it too late.

Look at the his reaction when talking about playing in defence, it’s the glint of an inspired man that is chomping at the bit for the challenge with true excitement at what he can do there.

Why look at a a duel positioned ruck as only a ruck/forward? Some of the best ruckman that I have played with always rolled into defence or played a kick behind the ball with great effect. It’s not the 90s or 00s game plan that’s for sure but big guys don’t get shorter.
Playing BB out of a back pocket/on the second tall as a stopper and intercept defender actually works in my book. He will get done on a lead now and then but how many teams can actually generate a lead up game style if they are loosing a midfield battle? FA... that’s how many.

Plenty of cogs in the mechanics of BB in defence and in the ruck but the one thing that is not an issue or lacking is the leadership to drive this group that is now in the hands of Ben McEvoy.

Warrior, Leader, Captain.... congratulations Big Boy McEvoy.
 
Mar 24, 2012
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It seems as if people are getting caught up in the ‘narrative’ of the rebuild too much, which explains the disappointment of BB named skipper.

As in, the recipe to contend again is ‘meant’ to be - 27 year old inspirational leader who leads Day, Worpel, DGB etc and that would be our new dynasty.

For obvious reasons that isn’t how it goes. The reality is that our squad both old guard and new, wanted BB to be their leader. These blokes train together every day, know what each other is like as a leader and made their choice. Hard to argue with that, especially with Big Boy who is a man’s man.
 
For all those people who keep perpetuating the myth that no Hawthorn captain had previously played at another club

Here is a list of Hawthorn VFL captains who did in fact come to us from other clubs:

Player...............Previous club/s
Jim Jackson St Kilda Collingwood.
Dan Minogue Collingwood Richmond
Clarrie Lethlean Melbourne
Bert Sutton South Melbourne
Albert Chadwick Melbourne
John Harris Collingwood
Fred Phillips St Kilda (He died before actually captaining a single game for Hawthorn but was appointed capt)*
Bill Twomey snr Collingwood (took over from Fred Philips above)
Ivan Mcalpine Footscray
Jack Carmody Collingwood
Keith Shea Carlton


What is true is that no Hawthorn captain since Keith Shea in 1945 has come played at a previous club.

*Sadly Fred Phillips death was caused by a Hawthorn jumper, he has received a cut on his elbow, and the dye in the new jumpers was toxic. It entered his blood stream and killed him.**

** this may be why Clarkson has a hard line stance against long sleeves.
 
Aug 31, 2008
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For all those people who keep perpetuating the myth that no Hawthorn captain had previously played at another club

Here is a list of Hawthorn VFL captains who did in fact come to us from other clubs:

Player...............Previous club/s
Jim Jackson St Kilda Collingwood.
Dan Minogue Collingwood Richmond
Clarrie Lethlean Melbourne
Bert Sutton South Melbourne
Albert Chadwick Melbourne
John Harris Collingwood
Fred Phillips St Kilda (He died before actually captaining a single game for Hawthorn but was appointed capt)*
Bill Twomey snr Collingwood (took over from Fred Philips above)
Ivan Mcalpine Footscray
Jack Carmody Collingwood
Keith Shea Carlton


What is true is that no Hawthorn captain since Keith Shea in 1945 has come played at a previous club.

*Sadly Fred Phillips death was caused by a Hawthorn jumper, he has received a cut on his elbow, and the dye in the new jumpers was toxic. It entered his blood stream and killed him.**

** this may be why Clarkson has a hard line stance against long sleeves.

I personally don't care that he's played at another club, that means nothing. If he's the best man for the job then it should be him.

But that list is pointless given it happened circa 75 years ago.
 
Quite true that it is odd Burgoyne has never been part of the leadership group. Possibly he's been busy mentoring the young Indigenous players in past years?
 
Quite true that it is odd Burgoyne has never been part of the leadership group. Possibly he's been busy mentoring the young Indigenous players in past years?

He has other roles, and we've never needed him to be. Great players don't have to be in the leadership group to be great players.

I don't think Buddy ever was, nor Cyril. Sometimes it's a burden.

Definitely this year he's doing a part time footy department role in the indigenous space, which he'll transition to doing full time next year.
 
He has other roles, and we've never needed him to be. Great players don't have to be in the leadership group to be great players.

I don't think Buddy ever was, nor Cyril. Sometimes it's a burden.

Definitely this year he's doing a part time footy department role in the indigenous space, which he'll transition to doing full time next year.

Buddy actually was in the leadership group for a few years before he departed. Wasn't so much my line of thinking of 'great player must equal leadership' but he has always struck me as an on-field and off-field leader and I know he has an interest in player development so I was just curious if that's something he has been doing behind the scenes rather than throwing his hat in the ring for the leadership group.
 
May 3, 2018
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Buddy actually was in the leadership group for a few years before he departed. Wasn't so much my line of thinking of 'great player must equal leadership' but he has always struck me as an on-field and off-field leader and I know he has an interest in player development so I was just curious if that's something he has been doing behind the scenes rather than throwing his hat in the ring for the leadership group.
One thing you can guarantee is that Buddy would've been best on for most footy trips :)
 

Nugett

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Apr 2, 2017
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Congratulations to Big Boy on getting the captaincy. I remember reading that even in his time at St. Kilda that there were expectations of him being a leader. I’m hoping that he becomes a captain like Vanderberg was. In that he is a transitional captain that paves the way by his actions to enable the next generation to flourish and have success.

I would love to see Sicily become the next captain after Big Boy.
 

Billyc

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McEvoy signed to the end of 2022.

Makes the leadership pathway very clear I think. Big Boy captain for 2 years and hands over to Worpel as he (and hopefully the side) enters his prime as a long term captain.
 
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